Community Groups Celebrate the Signing of San Francisco Anti-Registry Ordinance Into Law

Today, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee hosted a ceremony to celebrate the signing of the San Francisco Anti-Registry (“Non-Cooperation with Identity- Based Registry”) Ordinance into law.

Dozens of community members attended the ceremony in support of the ordinance that will stop San Francisco from “using resources to create, implement, provide investigation or information for, enforce, or otherwise assist or support any government program requiring the registration of individuals on the basis of religion, national origin, or ethnicity, or creating a database of individuals on the basis of religion, national origin, or ethnicity.”

A broad coalition of organizations – Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), the National Lawyers Guild -Francisco Bay Area (NLG SF), and the ACLU of Northern California advocated for this law that will create protections against any registry based on religion or country of origin.

“The SF Anti-Registry Ordinance is the first of its kind across the nation,” said Zahra Billoo, Executive Director for CAIR-SFBA. “Thank you to Mayor Lee, Supervisor Cohen, Supervisor Ronen, Supervisor Sheehy, and Supervisor Fewer for their leadership. Together our elected officials and community organizations created stronger protections for vulnerable community members from racial profiling and religious discrimination through the passage of this law.”

“The City of San Francisco and our local communities showed today that they stand ready to oppose any discriminatory policies that profile our communities, which the new administration may push forth,” said Elica Vafaie, National Security & Civil Rights Attorney at Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. “This first of its kind local ordinance provides tangible protections and we hope it sets a precedent throughout the country.”

“This ordinance expresses a commitment to making Sanctuary a real practice in San Francisco,” said Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of AROC. “This not only safeguards Arabs, Africans, and South Asians, it also safeguards all communities targeted by Trump by resisting the sharing of any information on any community for any potential registry.”

“The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action stands in solidarity with all people impacted by racial profiling,” said Sabiha Basrai of ASATA. “We applaud the City of San Francisco for this anti-registry ordinance and will continue to push for policies that champion racial justice for all.”

The San Francisco Non-Cooperation with Identity-Based Registry will go to effect 30 days after enactment on April 20th, 2017.